On Wed, Apr 10, 2024 at 8:35 PM Jonathan Chapman via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> > 1. I have read that the card and the drives were compatible with the dec > rx02 drives. Why would the CRDS even bother to redesign a card where DEC > had perfectly good working ones? Anyone know if there is any value in > keeping the FC-202 or just keep with the DEC cards? > > A lot of the third-party controllers could talk to Shugart-style 8" floppy > drives. They can also usually *format* the diskettes, which the RX01/RX02 > systems from DEC can't do -- you have to use preformatted media. This isn't > a *huge* deal since RX01 is just IBM 3740 and you can format it on CP/M > boxes, with ImageDisk, etc. There's an XXDP utility to upconvert RX01 media > to RX02, which is M2FM and very few things can work with it. > > Apparently a lot of small shops kept a CP/M box just for the task, the > Alspa ACI-2 I had was supposedly used like that. > > > 2. Any idea on that other card? > https://w2hx.com/?prefix=x/What-Is-It/PDP-11-Thing/Board1/ > > Looks like a non-DEC Qniverter -- QBus to Unibus converter. If that's what > it is, you'd plug your Unibus cable into that pair of connectors on top and > run it to whatever Unibus device you were wanting to talk to, potentially > another backplane full of Unibus stuff. Commonish upgrade on e.g. CNC > machines that were originally controlled by a PDP-11/05 or something in one > Unibus chassis, with another Unibus chassis full of machine-specific cards. > > Thanks, > Jonathan > Very cool. b
